Awais is a HubSpot front-end developer on the Computan team. He is an expert at making HubSpot sites and landing pages look their best. In this installment of Behind The Coding, Awais takes us through the pages of Islamic history, places he’d like to visit, and a hidden skill he’s learned during his time at Computan.
Hi Awais! What are the last 3 things you Googled?
I Googled Mapbox
You Googled about a Google competitor!
Yes! We were applying a custom pin solution with clickable modal bodies on a HubSpot page. Basically, a location map. There was some issue with data being fed to the boxes that I was Googling about.
Ok, what else?
Islamic history.
Interesting. Why Islamic history?
I like reading about history. Lately, I have been reading about Islamic history and was researching about a particular book.
What book?
Dar-Ul-Uslam – it’s a two-part series that I have really gotten interested in.
When did you get interested in Islamic history?
I have always been a history buff and enjoy learning about where we have come from as a society. My interest in Islamic history comes from watching Turkish TV and movies.
When was the last time you worked after hours to solve a hard problem?
I usually work late. I am usually wrapping up my day at 2 or 3 AM. If I have to do extra work, I don’t usually stay late. So I am not sure how to answer your question, Sajeel! Don’t sit late, but come early if urgent.
OK ok, How about when was the last time you worked early to solve a hard problem?
I can’t remember when, but I remember it involved—custom fields. Custom fields in HubSpot can’t be populated in HubSpot with an XML file. We have to do them manually. I remember I came in early to create the custom fields in HubSpot one-by-one.
Not a difficult job, but a time-consuming one.
Yes! Exactly.
Who are 3 people you'd like to have dinner (dawaat) with at the same time and why?
I have seen you ask this question to others and I have a different answer I hope that is ok.
Of course, it is Awais.
First I would have a dinner with 3 famous people from the entertainment world.
Who are those 3 people?
Tom Cruise, Daniel Craig and Taylor Swift.
That’s an interesting, and successful group. Why those 3?
They are really good in their fields – I love Tom Cruise and Daniel Craig movies. I am also a Swiftie!
Where would you go? Would you eat Southeast Asian food with them?
I would like to travel to Italy. Maybe they can come with me and help pick a place since they have probably been there before. I’d also like to have another meal too.
Hahaha! Ok, who would that be with?
My family – parents and brother. Would be great to go to the Hanza Valley in Pakistan or Mecca in Saudi Arabia for a dinner in either place.
Very nice, Awais! And when was the last time you cried tears of laughter?
It's probably while watching an episode of Friends. I laughed like crazy during that show.
What is your favorite episode?
Too many to think about now!
What do you love about coding?
There is always an answer and multiple ways to do one thing. I also like that what you build can be picked up and used by others after finishing it.
That’s cool, Awais! When was the first time you saw a laptop/computer?
I was 10 years old when I saw a Pentium 1. It had DOS and Windows both on it.
In those days, that was a thing.
It certainly was. A few years later, I had a teacher encourage me to learn HTML, and then I started using Notepad to write HTML.
And now you are a developer! What is something your teammates don't know about you?
I have been a member of the Computan team for several years. I was shy to talk to clients on calls for quite a long time. Now I’m not!
What changed for you, Awais?
I have more confidence and experience now. I am more at ease talking to people and understand that it is part of the job.
